Speaker Pelosiís Gavel

Guest Author - Tracey-Kay Caldwell

Want a one-stop spot to catch up on what has been going on in the House of Representatives? Then Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosiís blog, The Gavel is the place to go. Pelosi, explained in a video, the purpose of her new blog, ďThe Gavel will provide an unprecedented forum, in real time, about how the people's house is conducting the people's business." She sees the blog as part of the actions Democrats are taking, "restoring long overdue oversight, accountability and transparency to our government."

The siteís blog entries are being posted by her staff and include YouTube video clips showing the highlights from recent congressional sessions. In the first post by Jessie Lee you can watch video clips from The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearingís on Iraq Reconstruction investigating waste and fraud. The next post, by Karina, provides clips of eight speeches given on the first day of the Houseís debate on the Iraq Resolution. Then Karina posts an interview Nancy Pelosi gave reiterated her position that ďthere is no previous authority for the president, any president, to go into Iran.Ē Then Jesse Lee posts a press release announcing Leader Steny Hoyer and Whip James Clyburn along with other Gulf Coast Members introduction of legislation to cut the bureaucratic red tape and speed up funding assistance to areas in the Gulf Coast impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Following this, we get more YouTube clips from the debates over the Iraq resolution. The blog goes on to provide newspaper articles, statement, speeches, and the transcript from the Saturday Democratic radio address.

For anyone trying to keep up on what the House is doing, this site will be a valuable resource. It is also an effective tool for promoting party talent. The blog initially received criticism from Republicans claiming that the video clips violated the copyrights of C-SPAN. Republican Study Committee representative Brad Dayspring said, "As of noon today, the speaker had posted at least 16 videos that are copyrighted C-SPAN material from the House floor," But C-SPAN spokesperson Jennifer Moire soon cleared the matter up. The videos came from the House chamber, where Congress and not C-SPAN owns the cameras. Moire said, "That's in the public domain, it's owned by the American people." This blog will provide American an interesting window into the House of Representatives.